AARC Issues Guidance Document to Help Prepare for Treating Respiratory Failure in Mass Casualties During Crisis

		AARC Issues Guidance Document to Help Prepare for Treating Respiratory Failure in Mass Casualties During Crisis For Immediate Release DALLAS, TX (June 14, 2006) – To help prepare for the threat of a pandemic flu, the American Association for Respiratory Care (AARC) has developed guidelines and recommendations to help the medical community prepare for a large number of patients suffering from acute respiratory failure. While these guidelines specifically address pandemic flu, the same guidelines can apply to other mass casualty events including man-made and natural disaster. Mike Leavitt, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, recently said current stockpiles of ventilators are inadequate to meet an outbreak of a pandemic flu in the United States. The introduction to the AARC guidelines document agrees: “ In the wake of a pandemic flu with a virulent flu strain like H5N1, patients with survivable illness will die from lack of resources unless more ventilators that have the capabilities to provide ventilatory support for patients with acute respiratory failure (ARF) are readily available.” Currently, hospitals do not have the reserve ventilators needed to meet the demands of a disaster or pandemic flu. The high cost of purchasing and storing critical care equipment has deterred medical institutions from stockpiling additional emergency ventilators. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) does have a reserve of thousands of mechanical ventilators under the Strategic National Stockpiling Program, but the AARC believes the pandemic could overwhelm that supply quickly. “If this type of medical crisis occurs, respiratory therapists will be on the front lines treating victims of the pandemic experiencing acute respiratory failure, ” said Mike Runge, president of the American Association for Respiratory Care. “Our fear is we won’t have enough ventilators to treat all of those affected by the flu along with enough trained personnel to help provide ventilatory support. “Respiratory Therapists are trained to operate these ventilators in hospitals. An untrained operator can make a simple ventilator setting error that can result in a patient injury or even death. We want to do everything possible to prepare for a crisis and make sure that scenario doesn’t occur.” The AARC established the guidelines to identify the respiratory issues the medical community could be faced with to treat mass casualties in the wake of a pandemic flu, terrorist attacks or natural disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes or earthquakes. The guidance document also provides recommendations for ramping up equipment and human resources to prepare for a crisis. Some of the key AARC recommendations include: • Increase human resources to assist respiratory therapists and physicians and have easy-to-use ventilators available in the event the respiratory therapists on the hospital staffs can’t handle the volume and non-critical care professionals must be enlisted. • Extend ventilator capacity for any mass casualty response, expanding Strategic National Stockpiling Program by 5,000 to 10,000 ventilators. Additional ancillary supplies for ventilator use should also be stockpiled. • A distribution plan for ventilators must be developed on both the local and national level. • Intubation (placing breathing tube down the windpipe) is recommended for patients suffering acute respiratory failure during a pandemic flu, because ventilation by mask may increase the risk of infection to staff and other patients. • To prepare for a power outage, each medical center should identify emergency power sources for electricity and compressed gas. The guidance document, developed by the AARC in conjunction with medical experts in the respiratory field, is being distributed to respiratory therapists across the United States and is also available on the AARC’s website at www.aarc.org. The AARC will assist in all emergency preparedness agencies and identify support and logistical issues. The main thrust of this guidance plan is to be sure there are plenty of ventilators available to meet the demands of a crisis and that the ventilators chosen are capable of meeting the needs of patients with respiratory failure. “Some ventilators are more complicated than others,” said Runge, also the director of respiratory therapy at St. Alexis Medical Center in Bismarck, N.D., who has been a registered respiratory therapist for 26 years. “They are like cars. Some are stick, some are automatic. “We just need to be sure we have enough automatics available for non-critical care professionals who may be brought in to help.” Richard Branson, registered respiratory therapist and associate professor of surgery at the University of Cincinnati, agrees that proper preparation for a crisis will require reliable equipment. “We need the right equipment, but also the right personnel and training,” Branson said. “A cadre of inexpensive ventilators that fail to meet the demands of the situatioin provide a false sense of security. Plans for sufficiently capable ventilators and trained staff to operate those ventilators are essential.” The American Association for Respiratory Care, headquartered in Dallas, is a professional association of respiratory therapists that focuses primarily on respiratory therapy education and research. The organization’s goals are to ensure that respiratory patients receive safe and effective care from qualified professionals as well as supporting respiratory health care providers. The association continues to advocate on behalf of pulmonary patients for appropriate access to respiratory services provided by qualified professionals. # # # Contact: Sherry Milligan American Association for Respiratory Care 9425 N MacArthur Blvd. Irving, TX 75063 (972) 406-4656